One of Jeff Bezos’ top lieutenants at Amazon.com, Jeff Blackburn, is now directly overseeing Amazon’s video division, following the abrupt departure last month of a senior executive there.

Jim Freeman, a longtime Amazon executive who’d been vice president of video since early 2015 and was considered the chief engineering architect of the platform, left for German retailer Zalando last month.

Mr. Freeman wasn’t directly involved in dealings with media companies, media executives said, although Amazon Video’s most prominent entertainment executive, Amazon Studios VP Roy Price, reported to him. Mr. Freeman was based in Seattle and was a manager and later director of software development for Amazon Video before becoming a VP of technology, product and design of the unit, according to his LinkedIn page. He became VP of Amazon Video at the start of 2015 after its previous chief, Bill Carr left. The fact that Mr. Freeman had a senior role at the video division despite not having a history in the media industry is typical of how Amazon has approached its content initiatives, two media executives say.

This makes sense for a Zalando hire. Zalando doesn’t need someone who knows how to negotiate for licenses of movies and TV shows. The company needs someone who knows how to build the infrastructure to stream video.